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Floyd Mayweather knocks Tiger Woods off the top of Forbes list

Floyd Mayweather has overtaken Tiger Woods at the top of Forbes magazine's list of the 100 highest-paid sports personalities over the past year.

Boxer Mayweather, currently serving a three-month jail sentence for domestic assault, made $85m (£54.25m) - a figure bolstered by promoting his own fights.

Golfing legend Woods dropped to third having received $59.4m (£37.92m) with boxer Manny Pacquiao rising to second on earnings of $62m (£39.57m).

David Beckham is eighth on the list.

He is the highest paid footballer with earnings of $46m (£29.36m).

Forbes list of highest paid sports stars

1
Floyd Mayweather
$85m (£54.25m)

2
Manny Pacquiao
$62m (£39.57m)

3
Tiger Woods
$59.4m (£37.92m)

4
LeBron James
$53m (£33.84m)

5
Roger Federer
$52.7m (£33.64)

6
Kobe Bryant
$52.3m (£33.38m)

7
Phil Mickelson
$47.8m (£30.51m)

8
David Beckham
$46m (£29.36m)

9
Cristiano Ronaldo
$42.5m (£27.10m)

10
Peyton Manning
$42.4m (£27.06m)

Surprisingly, Olympic champion and world record-holding sprinter Usain Bolt, who is the most high-profile star of London 2012, was only 63rd with $20.3m (£12.96m) - just a quarter of Mayweather's earnings.

He also brought in less than half of golfer Phil Mickelson's $47.8m (£30.51m).

Woods had topped the Forbes list since 2001 but saw a drop in his earnings of $16m (£10.21m) from the previous year and was down by half from his peak in 2009.

He has suffered a tail off in endorsements since then as a result of being embroiled in a sex scandal.

Miami Heat star LeBron James ranks fourth at $53m (£33.84m), the highest of 13 basketball players and on the list. Swiss tennis star Roger Federer was fifth at $52.7m (£33.64m).

Real Madrid and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo earned $42.5m (£27.10m) and can lay claim to the top annual salary of any athlete in any league at $20m (£12.75m).

Fernando Alonso comes in as Formula 1's top earner at 19th with overall earnings of $29.4m (£18.7m).

MotoGP's Valentino Rossi is 20th, seven-times F1 champion Michael Schumacher is 21st, while Lewis Hamilton is 24th after earning $17.8m (£11.3m), with $15.9m (£10.1m) of that in salary from McLaren.

Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney is at 37th with $15.5m (£9.8m), while Luke Donald, golf's current world number one, is at 48th, earning $14.17m (£9m).

Only two women made it on to the list. Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova is 26th at $27.9m (£17.79m), while Li Na, China's 2011 French Open champion Li Na, is 81st at $18.4m (£11.72m) after becoming the first Asian-born player to win a Grand Slam singles crown.

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